J. D. McClatchy
American poet, essayist, and editor
WORDS ABOUT WORDS
He was a poet who trusted language to tell him what anything means. Rhyme, wordplay, paradox only help reveal the hidden wish of words. Indeed, the OED is the collective unconscious of English speakers, he'd say; all of our ideas and feelings are to be found there, in the endless recombinations of our words.
—J. D. McClatchy, American poet, essayist, and editor, Braving the Elements (tribute to James Merrill) in The New Yorker, March 27, 1995
Posted on December 3, 2003 at 11:12 PM
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